The Problem

They cause unimaginable misery. Often there is severe pain lasting weeks or months   and unless they are treated in specialized burns centres, which are so rare in low and middle income countries, they have to live with the stench from the infected wounds till the wounds ultimately heal with much scarring. When the face and neck are scarred they do not like to get out of the house. “What is the use of living like this?” some cry and ask their doctor. “Why didn’t you let me die?”

A family may break up if the wife’s face becomes severely scarred. Some times there could be blindness and/or destruction of all the fingers. When that happens to the bread winner who may be a farmer, a brick layer or a fisherman, the existing poverty is enhanced, affecting the health, nutrition and the quality of life of all the family members and the education of the children. These people become a burden to the society and the state. Those with extensive burns die after days or weeks of suffering. When we started our campaign sixteen years ago to prevent kerosene burns caused by tipping of makeshift unsafe lamps, there were 120 to 130 such deaths every year in our country, Sri Lanka; now they are much less. Our aim is to stop them altogether.

Note:  There are photographs of patients in the photo gallery.
Viewer discretion is recommended.

Other effects of burns

» As the treatment of burns is very costly, large amounts of money are spent on burn victims.
» Hospital staff has to spend a lot of time on treating them.

A glimpse of world literature on injury / burn prevention

		1993 - The WHO stated that “Injuries are the No 1 cause of death among children and young adults. They also account for a third of all hospital admissions world-wide. Yet, ………many nations don’t place injury prevention high on the list of priorities, and it is difficult to impress upon governments the need for a national commitment to programmes of injury prevention.
		2000 - The International Society for Burn Injuries stated that “The vast majority of burns can be prevented, but there are very few successful prevention campaigns”.
		2000 - In the journal ‘BURNS’, two surgeons from the Oregon University stated that “More and more effective burn prevention programs are needed”.
		Dr. Godakumbura started his campaign in 1992, before the above statements were made. He studied the problem, thought of a suitable solution and acted. Here are some comments:

		2006 - ‘Burns in low and middle income countries’ by Dr S N Forjuoh of the Texas University, USA Excerpts: “Flame burns could be reduced dramatically if people used safe inexpensive kerosene lamps redesigned according to Sri Lanka’s Safe Bottle Lamp Project
		2006 - ‘An insight into burns in a developing country: A Sri Lankan Experience’ by Dr. Y S Lau of the Oxford University, UK Excerpts: In Sri Lanka, the lack of government initiative …… precludes effective prevention programs. A successful burns prevention campaign is conducted by Sri Lanka’s Safe Bottle Lamp Foundation, which has justifiably received international acclaim. It was founded by Sri Lankan surgeon, Dr. Wijaya Godakumbura who developed the award winning safe bottle lamp. The impact his safe lamps will have on reducing bottle lamp burns is enormous.
		2007 - WHO plan for Burn Prevention and care: Excerpts: “There are over 300,000 deaths every year from burns, the vast majority occurring in low and middle income countries. In high income countries, much has been done to lower the rates of burns through several prevention activities such as smoke detectors, regulation of hot water heater temperature and flame retardant children’s sleepwear. Sadly, most of these advances have been incompletely applied in low and middle income countries”.

The following clip is from a video filmed at the Ratnapura Hospital at the start of our campaign 16 years ago, in 1992.

Note: The patient with burns in the face is a genuine patient; She happened to be brought in to Dr. Godakubura's ward at the time we were filming in a different place in the hospital. We rushed there and got the scene on camera. “Will I die?” is what she is asking the nurse. That is the fear, which every patient with moderate to severe burns has! Our patient had mild burns, and she made a good recovery. Many others are not that fortunate!

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